


Remember me I ask. Remember me I sing.

by TheSevenUmbrellas (RosyPages)



Series: The Horror and the Wild [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: After Calypso, Background Hazel/Leo/Frank, But it's not important to the plot because Jason doesn't know, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Leo Valdez, Jason POV, Jason and Leo Talk, Leo Valdez Needs a Hug, Leo and Calypso are just friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25321234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosyPages/pseuds/TheSevenUmbrellas
Summary: After Leo gets back from Calypso's island, Jason and Leo have a much needed talk.Aka, Jason apologizes to Leo for undervaluing him.Takes place during House of HadesConnected to when Jason doesn't think Leo overworking himself is a problem in "Farewell Wanderlust."You don't have to read "Farewell Wanderlust" to read this, but I recommend you do because I'm proud of it.
Relationships: Jason Grace & Leo Valdez
Series: The Horror and the Wild [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833931
Comments: 16
Kudos: 105





	Remember me I ask. Remember me I sing.

**Jason**

Jason hadn’t seen Leo since he’d returned from… well, from wherever he’d been sent. He still hadn’t told them. Jason was worried about him. He’d never seen Leo’s hands so still, his eyes so serious.

After meeting up again, Leo had taken one look at their poor excuse for _maintenance_ and gone straight to work. He hadn’t eaten, hadn’t even changed his clothes. That had caught even Jason’s attention.

They’d missed him so much, but Leo hadn’t even seemed to notice.

So, Jason had taken himself down to the engine room. He was reluctant to admit he had to take a second to gather his course before knocking.

“I’m busy Hazel,” Leo’s voice called through the door. “I just need a few minutes.”

“It’s Jason, actually.” He tried not to take offense to the silence that followed. “Do you mind if I come in?”

“No, of course not. Come on in, dude.” Jason hated the sudden change to Leo’s voice. The fake cheerfulness. The worst part was, he didn’t think he’d ever have noticed if Leo hadn’t first thought he was Hazel. Was that their friendship? Pretending to be happy for each other? The idea made Jason’s stomach sink.

The engine room was a mess, but that was their fault and not Leo’s for a change. Trying to find anything to fix the ship had resulted in the engine room being practically pulled apart. Jason was sure they’d done more harm than good. Leo sat in the middle of it all with a wrench in one hand and a hammer in the other.

“What’s up?” he asked, brightly.

Jason sat himself on the floor, pushing away the chaos to find a clean spot. “Actually, I wanted to apologize to you.”

“Ah man, what’d you do? Did you zap the control panel again? Dude, I told you-”

“No, no… I just realized how much work you do around here.”

Leo gave him an uneasy smile, and Jason realized he was trying to play it off. “Well duh, I’m Captain Tool Belt, right?”

“I thought it was Commander?”

“That too.”

“Leo, I’m serious. You made this entire ship single handedly. I know there were days you didn’t sleep or eat because you were working so hard. And I mean, I guess I just kind of figured that was normal because you’re _you_. You’re always working. And then after Phobos you got the same way, and I didn’t think about it at all because I… I don’t know. You’re you, right? You’re strong and nothing ever seems to effect you so I just kind of assumed that nothing ever did. But then Hazel and Frank got all worried about you and I just brushed them off. No, wait, let me finish.” Leo had opened his mouth, probably to either tell Jason he was jackass, or tell him he’d done nothing wrong. But Jason had to keep going, or he was never going to say what he had to. “I didn’t even realize how much you did for us until you were gone. We were literally shipwrecked without you. No one knew how to work the ship or fix anything. There is no quest without you and I never realized it until you were gone. So, I’m sorry. And I’m really glad you’re back.”

Leo smiled, but it wasn’t his usual smirk. This one was a real smile. His cheeks were bright red. “Jason… man… I don’t know what to say. I mean, I appreciate it, but I’m just doing what I have to. We all have a part to play, right? What else am I going to do? Without the _Argo II_ , I’m useless, right?”

Jason frowned. “No,” he said, because he would’ve thought that was obvious. “No way. You’re not useless. You saved me from those Cyclopes, remember? And you’ve done a hell of a lot to help us since then, even without the ship. Those Dwarves? All you, dude. And you had that genius idea of sending them to mess with the Romans. I would have never thought about that! Leo, you’re more than just a mechanic. You know that, right?”

From Leo’s uneasy smile, Jason realize he _did not_ know that. Suddenly he was very grateful he’d mustered up the courage to have this talk. “I’m going to make sure you’re eating and sleeping properly from now on. No more all-nighters and no more skipping meals, or I _will_ blast you off this boat for Percy to fish out of the sea. Deal?”

“…Yeah… yeah, okay,” Leo said. “I promise. No more skipping meals. Even if I could get away with it without Hazel or Frank dragging me up there.”

“Yeah, what’s going on with you guys, anyway?” Ever since Phobos and Deimos, the group had become strangely close. He never heard Leo making fun of Frank anymore. They were always hanging around each other, laughing or bickering. He’d seen Hazel and Frank join Leo in the engine room more than once, which was odd. Leo never let anyone distract him from his work.

Leo just shrugged, but there was a dark blush on his cheeks. “Oh… I guess we just bonded over almost dying together again, you know? It happens.”

“They really missed you when you were gone.”

“Yeah?” Leo asked. “How’d you know?”

“Just… They were desperate to get you back. Not that we all weren’t desperate to get you back, but Hazel and Frank were really worried. I swear Hazel was going to fight Notus herself to force him to help us find you.” Honestly, it was probably a good thing Piper had dealt with Khione instead of Hazel and Frank. Jason had never thought he’d see two such sweet people so angry.

“You didn’t let her, did you?” he sounded genuinely worried. Jason laughed.

“Nah, but it was a close call.”

Leo nodded, staring down at the floor. A quiet drifted over them, but it wasn’t a comfortable one. Jason had never felt such an awkwardness between the two of them since Midas’ mansion. Leo felt different, but he wasn’t sure if it was all because of where he’d gone. He had changed before then, Jason just didn’t know when it had happened. When they’d left for the quest? After Camp Jupiter? After Phobos and Deimos?

Even now, Leo felt so far away. “Leo, where’d you go?” he asked. “What happened?”

Leo told him about the girl imprisoned on an island for thousands of years. Jason couldn’t believe it. Calypso, from the old stories? After all these years… and Leo had met her.

When he was finished, Jason couldn’t help but tease, “So you got yourself a girlfriend?”

“No!” Leo said, almost too quickly. “Not Calypso. I mean… She… she’s still in love with someone else.”

“Odysseus? After all this time?”

Leo didn’t meet Jason’s eyes when he spoke. “Doesn’t matter. She’s not really my type anyway.” A small, familiar grin returned to Leo’s face. “She’s kind of mean. Wasn’t expecting that.”

Jason laughed. “Classic Valdez luck, right?” It felt good to laugh with Leo. They didn’t do it enough. Jason realized they hadn’t had a proper talk that wasn’t about quests and dying since… before Camp Jupiter? Maybe even before then? Leo had just always been working on the _Argo II._ Jason felt guilty about that. He should’ve helped more. Or at least made more of an effort.

“Jason, we have to help her after the war. I promised. She’s been stuck on that island for so long…” Leo shivered. “I would’ve gone insane.”

Jason didn’t know if he meant he would’ve gone insane on that island for so long, or gone insane without Calypso. Either way, he understood what Leo meant. They couldn’t just leave her to the gods’ whims.

“We will, Leo. As soon as this Gaea stuff is over, we’ll help her. I promise.”

He seemed to relax for the first time since he’d gotten back. Slumping against the wall, a full smile formed on his face.

Jason smiled back. “Now, will you _please_ take a break. You smell like sea water. The ship can wait. I mean it.”

“Yeah… yeah I think I will.” Leo surprised him by putting down his tools and standing up. “Do you know where Hazel and Frank went?”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this!
> 
> I thought they needed a scene together after writing Farewell Wanderlust. Sorry it isn't longer. 
> 
> I might write a series about how the crew figure out they're all dating. OR write about Leo dying in Blood of Olympus. Not sure which.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you liked it!


End file.
